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Impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on County Employment and Wages data for Second Quarter 2021

This page provides further information on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic for the Second Quarter 2021 County Employment and Wages news release.

Collection mode

QCEW data collection may be affected by the availability of state unemployment insurance (UI) staff, state labor market information (LMI) staff, BLS data collection staff, and business respondents. QCEW data are collected through several channels; most QCEW data come from state LMI departments that receive data from their UI tax department partners. QCEW also collects Multiple Worksite Report (MWR) data electronically through the BLS-operated MWR website and the BLS Electronic Data Interchange center. BLS manages a contract to print and collect MWR paper forms for 38 states. The remaining states print and mail forms directly. BLS offers respondents increased electronic reporting options, working with our MWR contractor to scan as much data as possible electronically, and researching other options to increase web reporting.

Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages collection by type and source, second quarter 2021
Establishments collected Number of establishments Percent of establishments Employment Percent of employment

Total establishments

10,914,401 100.0% 144,947,943 100.0%

Single establishments

8,939,070 81.9% 80,126,806 55.3%

Multiple worksite reporter establishments

1,975,331 18.1% 64,821,137 44.7%

Collection methods

Total establishments

10,914,401 100.0% 144,947,943 100.0%

Total of BLS-collected establishments

1,119,289 10.2% 36,226,624 25.0%

BLS Electronic Data Interchange Center

482,754 4.4% 14,149,722 9.8%

BLS web data collection

636,535 5.8% 22,076,902 15.2%

Total of state-collected establishments

9,795,112 89.8% 108,721,319 75.0%

Response rates

QCEW response rates are presented for establishments reporting employment in the third month of the quarter, employment, and total quarterly wages as first published. They are not updated with subsequent revisions to the data.

Overall, there were 28 areas with lower response rates for establishments, 26 areas with lower response rates for employment, and 27 areas with lower response rates for total quarterly wages in second quarter 2021 compared with second quarter 2020.

To access QCEW response rates summary and historical tables for previous quarters, see the QCEW Response Rates Tables page.

QCEW response rates for establishments[1], employment, and total wages (as first published)
State or Territory Second quarter establishments June employment Second quarter total wages
2020 2021 Difference 2020 2021 Difference 2020 2021 Difference

United States[2]

91.8% 91.8% 0.0% 97.5% 97.5% 0.0% 98.3% 98.2% -0.1%

Alabama

91.7% 89.9% -1.8% 98.2% 98.2% 0.0% 94.9% 98.7% 3.8%

Alaska

96.6% 97.2% 0.6% 94.2% 92.7% -1.5% 93.1% 86.8% -6.3%

Arizona

89.3% 92.5% 3.2% 97.6% 98.3% 0.7% 98.3% 98.7% 0.4%

Arkansas

89.4% 85.8% -3.6% 98.2% 98.5% 0.3% 98.8% 99.1% 0.3%

California

95.2% 96.3% 1.1% 99.2% 99.4% 0.2% 99.5% 99.7% 0.2%

Colorado

92.2% 91.6% -0.6% 95.1% 96.4% 1.3% 95.8% 96.6% 0.8%

Connecticut

91.1% 92.1% 1.0% 93.6% 94.5% 0.9% 91.5% 94.3% 2.8%

Delaware

86.4% 84.2% -2.2% 94.3% 93.4% -0.9% 95.4% 93.4% -2.0%

District of Columbia

83.3% 84.3% 1.0% 95.8% 95.6% -0.2% 97.7% 97.7% 0.0%

Florida

90.1% 90.7% 0.6% 94.5% 94.2% -0.3% 97.6% 97.6% 0.0%

Georgia

86.1% 83.7% -2.4% 97.3% 96.4% -0.9% 97.4% 96.9% -0.5%

Hawaii

89.3% 89.4% 0.1% 98.7% 98.2% -0.5% 99.3% 99.4% 0.1%

Idaho

96.0% 93.9% -2.1% 97.5% 98.0% 0.5% 95.7% 96.7% 1.0%

Illinois

90.0% 89.9% -0.1% 99.3% 99.9% 0.6% 99.4% 99.9% 0.5%

Indiana

93.9% 93.2% -0.7% 97.1% 96.8% -0.3% 99.5% 98.8% -0.7%

Iowa

97.4% 97.0% -0.4% 97.9% 97.9% 0.0% 98.9% 98.7% -0.2%

Kansas

94.4% 97.1% 2.7% 98.3% 99.1% 0.8% 99.2% 99.4% 0.2%

Kentucky

88.4% 87.6% -0.8% 97.4% 96.4% -1.0% 98.5% 97.7% -0.8%

Louisiana

83.6% 84.7% 1.1% 96.8% 97.8% 1.0% 97.9% 98.4% 0.5%

Maine

94.8% 93.6% -1.2% 99.5% 98.5% -1.0% 99.6% 98.8% -0.8%

Maryland

91.0% 89.7% -1.3% 94.5% 93.9% -0.6% 97.7% 96.2% -1.5%

Massachusetts

91.7% 92.2% 0.5% 96.9% 97.1% 0.2% 97.3% 98.1% 0.8%

Michigan

86.9% 89.1% 2.2% 97.7% 96.3% -1.4% 98.7% 97.2% -1.5%

Minnesota

88.5% 85.1% -3.4% 98.6% 96.8% -1.8% 99.0% 97.0% -2.0%

Mississippi

90.6% 89.7% -0.9% 95.7% 96.4% 0.7% 97.9% 96.8% -1.1%

Missouri

91.7% 92.6% 0.9% 97.5% 98.1% 0.6% 97.7% 98.5% 0.8%

Montana

94.2% 93.9% -0.3% 98.0% 98.0% 0.0% 97.8% 97.7% -0.1%

Nebraska

97.8% 97.7% -0.1% 99.1% 98.9% -0.2% 99.5% 99.7% 0.2%

Nevada

93.1% 94.2% 1.1% 94.6% 94.4% -0.2% 96.1% 94.4% -1.7%

New Hampshire

94.6% 93.0% -1.6% 98.3% 95.8% -2.5% 98.8% 97.9% -0.9%

New Jersey

84.5% 86.0% 1.5% 96.1% 98.1% 2.0% 98.8% 99.4% 0.6%

New Mexico

91.2% 91.4% 0.2% 97.6% 97.1% -0.5% 98.3% 98.0% -0.3%

New York

91.3% 90.4% -0.9% 96.9% 96.5% -0.4% 96.7% 95.5% -1.2%

North Carolina

92.7% 88.9% -3.8% 99.2% 97.6% -1.6% 99.5% 98.1% -1.4%

North Dakota

97.5% 98.1% 0.6% 99.5% 99.6% 0.1% 99.7% 99.7% 0.0%

Ohio

93.6% 93.7% 0.1% 97.1% 97.4% 0.3% 99.4% 98.9% -0.5%

Oklahoma

85.5% 85.4% -0.1% 98.1% 97.6% -0.5% 98.2% 97.4% -0.8%

Oregon

93.0% 92.7% -0.3% 98.0% 96.9% -1.1% 97.6% 96.4% -1.2%

Pennsylvania

97.6% 98.1% 0.5% 96.6% 97.5% 0.9% 96.6% 96.1% -0.5%

Rhode Island

94.0% 94.4% 0.4% 97.6% 97.7% 0.1% 96.3% 97.2% 0.9%

South Carolina

91.3% 90.3% -1.0% 97.2% 97.4% 0.2% 99.2% 98.7% -0.5%

South Dakota

98.5% 98.5% 0.0% 98.4% 94.2% -4.2% 98.7% 98.8% 0.1%

Tennessee

91.1% 90.9% -0.2% 98.2% 97.9% -0.3% 99.5% 99.4% -0.1%

Texas

94.4% 94.3% -0.1% 98.6% 98.8% 0.2% 99.2% 99.0% -0.2%

Utah

96.4% 96.8% 0.4% 99.0% 98.8% -0.2% 99.5% 99.6% 0.1%

Vermont

94.8% 94.0% -0.8% 97.7% 97.6% -0.1% 98.3% 98.3% 0.0%

Virginia

92.0% 90.0% -2.0% 97.8% 96.6% -1.2% 98.6% 98.6% 0.0%

Washington

80.6% 80.8% 0.2% 97.4% 98.4% 1.0% 99.1% 99.3% 0.2%

West Virginia

94.6% 93.9% -0.7% 98.3% 98.8% 0.5% 97.8% 99.3% 1.5%

Wisconsin

96.9% 96.6% -0.3% 97.9% 97.8% -0.1% 99.6% 99.4% -0.2%

Wyoming

97.6% 98.0% 0.4% 98.3% 98.4% 0.1% 98.7% 98.9% 0.2%

Puerto Rico

91.4% 95.0% 3.6% 95.7% 96.3% 0.6% 95.6% 94.5% -1.1%

Virgin Islands

56.4% 64.3% 7.9% 89.3% 95.0% 5.7% 91.6% 94.3% 2.7%

[1] Percentage of establishments reporting employment in the third month of the quarter.

[2] Percentage reported for the United States includes data for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Last Modified Date: November 23, 2021